


Fight or Flight

by LucindaAM



Series: My Guilty Pleasure One-Shots [14]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Light Swearing, No Smut, OKAY?!, You are trying to avoid Steve, You have good reasons, angst if you squint, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26482411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucindaAM/pseuds/LucindaAM
Summary: Here's the thing. The fight or flight instinct is strong. One of the strongest instincts a human body possesses. So when your's goes into overdrive you do everything in your power to flee because this is one problem you won't be able to fight.Here's the other thing. You're good. Too good. You don't want to be found and you won't be found. It's part of what makes you so good at your job.Too bad Steve's a determined little fossil. And he's on the hunt for you.Pure. Freaking. Fluff.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Reader
Series: My Guilty Pleasure One-Shots [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997734
Comments: 12
Kudos: 79





	Fight or Flight

The quinjet landed and you were on your feet in the next instant. You had craftily arranged for Fury and Maria to meet you hoping that the two would distract Steve long enough for you to make your great escape.

For the past two hours you’d been doing your darndest to avoid the man. You’d think that with your years of training and your love of shadows, you’d be able to do it better than you were. But nope! He was determined to catch you.

You could see him eyeing you from the corner of the quinjet where Tony had trapped him with some monologue about something or another. You tried to pay attention; you did. But it’s hard to pay attention when your eyes are focused on everyone and everything else.

The quinjet doors slid open and you practically vaulted over them. You heard Steve calling your name from behind, but you barely paid him any attention as you raced passed Fury and Maria. “Steve has something he wants to talk to you two about!” You called over your shoulder.

You didn’t even feel bad throwing him under the bus like that.

You ran past the armory, not even bothering to put your weapons away as you rushed through the tower. You’d been planning your getaway from the moment you’d stepped foot on the plane and damn if you weren’t going to follow it to the letter.

You ran down the hall and slid to a stop outside of Nat’s room. You plucked your spare comms off your belt and tossed them and your phone (which you’d set to silent) under the spies bed in case Steve tried to track them. You slid the door shut and took off running again. You ran to your own room and tossed your duffel and the majority of your weapons on your bed before rushing to the bathroom. You grabbed your dingy old iPod, the one that conveniently couldn’t sync with any of JARVIS’ systems, and started playing the shower ASMR recording on repeat, blasting it through the speakers. With any luck, Steve would think you were in the shower when he came to lecture you. You locked the door behind you before you jumped up into the vents, not even bothering to change out of your tac suit.

This was a mission too after all. Mission ‘Avoid Steve at All Costs’.

So far it was going flawlessly. But you weren’t done yet.

You sped through the vents as quickly as you were able, avoiding the junctures you knew Clint liked to hole up in the most before you found an empty hallway and jumped out of the vents. You threw yourself into the shadows with just a little more force than was necessary and hit your head with enough force to see stars as a result.

You shook your head and crept down the hallway, listening for any sounds of pursuit and breathed a sigh of relief when you didn’t hear any.

You activated your watch, a passion project you’d been working on behind Tony’s back to drive the billionaire insane and smiled when you felt the tell-tale signs of a cloaking shield wash over you.

Now invisible to everything but the naked eye, you slipped into the stairwell and started your trek to your top-secret woman-cave you’d been building for situations just like this.

With any luck, you’d be able to survive on the rations you’d stashed there until the next mission came up and Steve wouldn’t have a chance to talk to you.

It was a perfect plan.

Steve was livid.

Not only had Hill and Fury kept him locked in a pointless meeting for hours, convinced that he knew more than he was letting on about this last mission the team had been on, but he couldn’t find you anywhere.

He’d checked your rooms first and had sat outside on your bed for at least another hour, waiting for you to leave. At first, he’d been convinced that you’d specifically timed your shower with his arrival. He knew you were trying to avoid him after all. But when an hour had passed, Steve’s imagination had wandered far enough to convince him you were lying dead in the shower.

He’d broken the bathroom door down and it was with a lot of mixed feelings that he saw that you were fine. Or rather, you weren’t dead. But you weren’t there either.

The iPod playing shower sounds on the counter had been left in a pile of broken pieces when Steve had left. He’d have to buy you a new one. Once he’d finished chewing you out.

“JARVIS? Where is she?” He’d demanded.

“I can’t seem to locate her on any of the video surveillance, Captain. But her phone and her comms appear to be located in Ms. Romanov’s rooms.”

Steve shook his head, not even bothering to attempt to look there. You were clever. He’d give you that. No one would dare to check Nat’s rooms for you. They would risk Nat’s wrath.

So where else would you have gone?

His hands clenched in frustration as he started stalking through the tower. He’d clear every damn floor himself if he had too. He WOULD find you.

That was a promise.

You lounged in the small crevice you’d found a while back. You weren’t sure exactly what it was supposed to be. It sure as heck wasn’t in the tower blueprints. It just seemed to be a small Harry Potter sized closet in the middle of nowhere. It was perfect for hiding away from dumb mistakes and life-long regrets.

You hummed quietly to yourself as you flipped the page in your book. You’d just gotten to the good part when your instincts kicked into overdrive. Immediately, your humming cut off and you froze, not even daring to breathe.

You could hear heavy footsteps heading your way.

You quickly glanced at your watch and were surprised to see that almost twelve hours had passed since you’d first fled from Steve at the hanger.

The footsteps couldn’t be from him, could they?

Surely, he’d given up looking for you hours ago . . .

The footsteps grew nearer, and you gently reached a hand over to grab the night-night gun next to you. Steve or not, anyone got close and you were shooting them in the chest with the thing. They wouldn’t take you alive.

The footsteps stopped and you heard light cursing as the owner fumbled with something in their hands.

You rolled into a better position and aimed the gun at the door to your little retreat. The cursing cut off as a victorious chuckle shot through the air. The footsteps resumed, drawing closer and closer.

Your adrenaline started pumping as you listened intently to the sounds.

No one ever came this way. Ever.

This couldn’t be a coincidence.

They were coming for you.

The footsteps drew nearer and nearer.

Your finger twitched on the trigger of the night-night gun.

You did your best to remind yourself that technically, whoever was on the other side was friend, not foe.

The footsteps stopped again and you heard a finger tapping on some kind of tablet.

A low murmur, too low for you to make out individual words echoed in the space just outside your hideaway.

You held your breath as the muttering stopped and whoever it was sighed.

The footsteps sounded again, this time drawing away from your hiding place and you let out a sigh of relief.

Before you had a chance to think twice, the door to your hideaway was ripped open, and the gun was yanked out of your hands, pulling you along with it until you were hanging out of the tiny cupboard, half in, half out.

You groaned as your hands caught you against the wall and you took in the distinctive boots of your true-blue-through-and-through All American Hero.

“Steve.” You said casually, shoving yourself back into the hole enough so you could prop your head up on one of your hands. “I, uh, didn’t see you there. How have you been?”

Steve had his arms crossed over his chest, giving you a look filled with righteous disappointment. Your night-night gun was already tucked into the front of his belt.

Much like you, the man hadn’t bothered to change since the mission.

He’d clearly spent the last few hours looking for you and boy did his expression show how much he appreciated having to do that.

“Doll.” He said, his voice low and threatening.

You winced as you looked at him. “How much trouble am I in right now?” You asked, shoulders drooping as you abandoned all semblance of innocence.

Steve sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought it over. For a long second, the two of you sat in silence as you waited for your sentence to be handed down.

Eventually, Steve held out a single hand. You took it reluctantly as Steve helped you swing out of your safe space and into the hall. He kept a firm grip on your hand as he led you back through the tower, silently brooding as he led you to his room.

He opened the door and gestured inside, an enigmatic look on his face.

You couldn’t help but wring your hands nervously as you slipped past him and sat on the armrest of his couch.

Steve stepped in front of you and opened his mouth.

“Wait. Okay. Before you say anything. I KNOW that foisting Maria and Nick on you was ENTIRELY cruel and unusual and I KNOW that I was acting ‘childish’ when I went to extreme lengths to get away from you. Okay? And I KNOW that you have every right to be pissed at me because we haven’t exactly talked about any of this and I kind of just dumped it on you right in the middle of getting shot at, which, in retrospect wasn’t the right time to do it . . .” You were rambling.

Steve laughed as he took in your nervous posture and wringing hands. The fury he’d been clinging to for the past twelve hours washed almost instantly away in the face of your fears.

You paused your ramble. “Are . . . are you laughing right now? Seriously?!” You jumped to your feet in indignation.

Steve chuckled again and quickly stepped towards you, trapping you between the couch and his chest. He took your shoulders in his hands. “Sweetheart, just . . . can I talk?”

You folded your arms across your chest, but nodded.

Steve leaned in and kissed your lips quickly. “I didn’t say anything on the mission because while you’d lost your comms somewhere, I still had mine on, and I didn’t want the team to be a part of this.” Steve gestured between the two of you.

He leaned his forehead against yours. “I wanted to talk to you in private, doll because this is us. Not them. Just you and me.”

Steve leaned away and took your hands in his, prying them away from your body as he held them tightly in his. “What I would have said if I’d been able to, sweetheart, is I love you too.”

A peaceful silence filled the apartment as the two of you gazed into each other’s eyes. Your face lit up and a beautiful smile appeared as you took in Steve’s earnest expression. “You do?” You breathed.

Steve nodded against your forehead. “Of course I do, sweetheart. I’m head over heels in love with you. I think I always have been.”

You chuckled once and it was all the warning Steve had before you were pulling out of his grasp and throwing yourself at him. Steve fell backward, landing on the cold hard ground with an oomph before you crashed on top of him.

You winced as you turned his head and rubbed at the bruise that was already forming. “Sorry.” You murmured.

Steve shook his head and leaned up to press a kiss to your lips. “Don’t be sorry, doll. Just promise never to run away again.”

A mischievous look filled your gaze as you bent down to meet his lips with your own in a bruising kiss that made you both forget about the past twelve hours.

It was the next morning as Steve watched you sleep, gently stroking the bare skin on your arm that he finally realized;

You never had made that promise.


End file.
